"Right, just as long as we don't break our arms getting everything back home," Xandria nodded. "I think I've got about as much as I can take, so...once you have what you want, I think we can head back."

"Yeah, I think I've got about enough, too." With that, the two headed out of the store, and back to the aquarium. The trip seemed a lot longer this time, hauling their bags of clothes. Though, with any luck, this would be the last time they had to head out this way for a long while.

As soon as they made it back to the aquarium, they put the bags of clothes in the jellyfish room, along with all their other loot from the night. "I don't know about you," Irene said to Xandria, "but I'm pretty well exhausted now. I think I'm going to turn in for the night. I'll see you in the morning."

Irene turned and went back to the gift shop. She was grateful that they had a long box full of stuffed animals; it was big enough for her to lay in, if she carefully arranged her limbs. For now, at least, it was a good enough bed for her, and she could worry about better arrangements later.

By the time her eyes re-opened, it was morning. Irene hadn't even remembered falling asleep--not that she was going to complain. Irene yawned, and hauled herself out of the bucket of stuffed animals. It was a bit harder to climb out of it than to climb in; she was going to have to do something about that. Well, for now, she had other things she wanted to take care of. And, hopefully, she'd beaten Xandria up, because she'd prefer if the other girl didn't find out about this. Irene snuck back to the jellyfish room and started rooting through the bag of clothes she'd collected. She grabbed a couple of the shirts and pairs of pants, and quickly darted out, heading for the nearest bathroom. Perfect--this place had really big mirrors.

Irene stood far enough back that she could see almost her whole body--certainly her whole torso--in the mirror. As soon as she did, she grabbed one of the shirts, and pulled it over her head. For a few seconds, the only thing she could think about was how weird it felt. It was one thing to hold the shirt in her hand; it was another to have the fabric pressing against the entire top of her body. It just felt weird, and tingly, and.... Did normal people feel this way when they wore clothes? Xandria sure never acted like it.

Irene shook it off, and looked in the mirror. The T-shirt was a bit long for her, anyways, she supposed. That was another advantage to her clothes being illusions--she didn't have to worry about things like that. Well, maybe Irene could just change her current "clothes" to look like it, except fitting properly. Or... or maybe she could just be taller. Really, was it that weird to think about? Irene was pretty sure that she was just an illusion, but one who was apparently... self-aware, or something. Why couldn't she change how she looked? Irene closed her eyes, and concentrated on the idea of being... well, just to test it, just a little bit taller. She opened her eyes again, and voila; everything around her was a bit lower than she remembered. She glanced at herself in the mirror, and immediately winced a little; she had to admit, she looked a kind of like a bad Photoshop job. She looked a little bit... stretched out. Irene concentrated on all the details that looked disproportionate or just otherwise off, and started touching them up. She started with her legs, since those seemed the farthest off, and started working her way up....

As she was finishing up, though, Irene couldn't help but think about some of the other things she could change about her appearance. After all, if she wasn't even real... then why did it matter if she made a few changes? Like, for example, maybe she could lose some "weight". It was hard to say when the only other person she knew was a professional athlete, but... she could probably afford it. A couple of tweaks later, and Irene was satisfied.

She was still going to ditch the shirt, though. She'd just have to change up her imaginary clothes from time to time; wearing real fabric was just too weird.

N-Web sis of stardf, _Rillian_, & jerendaProud to be Sirya the Madcap Siren

Xandria slept far into the early morning, having gone out again after Irene had headed off to bed. It would take her a while to adjust back to normal person hours, if she ever did at all. She had spent most of the night just wandering the streets, getting herself oriented to what was near by. There were smaller shops close to the Aquarium, though most of these seemed to be privately owned--if such a thing could be indicated by their cleanliness and the owner's obvious intent to keep their store open as long as possible. If she wanted anything else, then, it would probably be best to make the long trek back to the shopping center.

As she made her way back to the aquarium, she realized that the sky was starting to grow light. Rather than make her way back to the back entrance, she came up the front, surveying the grand architecture, visualizing a way up to the highest point--a flat roof that overlooked not just the aquarium itself, but the park around it. It took her a good twenty minutes of climbing, and a little help from some seaweed, but she made her way up just in time to settle in and watch the sunrise over the ocean.

Irene came out of the bathroom and made her way back to the jellyfish room. She put the clothes she'd been looking at back in the bags, doing her best to arrange it so it looked like she'd never been digging around in there. After that, she... hmm. What did she want to do? She could go looking for Xandria, figure out what the plan was for the day... but finding her might mean having to continue that conversation she'd intentionally put off the night before. No, maybe she should find something else to do. Well, there were the beanbag chairs from the library; maybe she could figure out something to do with them. Right now, they were left in a disorderly pile in the middle of the room; at the very least, she could set them out beside each other.

Just as Irene walked over and picked up the first one, however, her vision suddenly swam in front of her eyes. Everything was swallowed up by a bright light; her eyes adjusted after a few seconds, but everything was still wrong. She was looking up towards a light fixture, and now she could make out a ceiling. She felt something pressing against her back--or, more accurately, she was pressing against it. She turned her head, or tried to; she moved very slowly, sluggishly, and she felt unbelievably tired. She could hear voices, though their words were distorted: "...treatment might... levels are rising.... she's waking up!...." Irene looked down her body, and realized that she was lying on some kind of hospital bed--and, worse, she was tied down to it. There were figures moving around the room, but Irene never got a good look at them--her vision went hazy again, and the room disappeared.

Irene blinked herself awake. As she did, she realized that she was still mid-lift, and apparently had been paralyzed in that state for... well, however long that took, but she was guessing a few seconds. She tossed the bean bag chair aside and shook her head violently. Get it out, get it out! All those weird sensations of actually feeling things, not to mention the disturbing images she saw.... Get back to reality, brain!

Of course, she couldn't shake the feeling that what she had seen was just as real, if not more so, than what she saw right now.

N-Web sis of stardf, _Rillian_, & jerendaProud to be Sirya the Madcap Siren

Xandria yawned and ruffled her hair as she started making her way through the aquarium. She debated leaving Irene be, but she finally decided that she should at least check in with her before she went on with her day. After wandering around a bit, she found Irene in the jellyfish room.

"Morning." Irene forced a smile, hoping that Xandria hadn't come in a few second earlier. She glanced around at the result of their various looting. "I was going to see if I could get some of this stuff organized--you know, so we can figure out what we're going to do with it all."

N-Web sis of stardf, _Rillian_, & jerendaProud to be Sirya the Madcap Siren

"Oh... thanks. I was just... y'know, playing around with my powers a little bit...." She shook it off and continued, "So, anyways, do you mind if I claim one of bean bag chairs? It might help make my bed a little..." She trailed off, shaking her head as she tried to think of the right word, "...well, easier to sleep on, anyways."

It took her a few moments of confusion to realize what looked different about Xandria that morning. She seemed... not smaller, but... shorter. Oh, right; that's because Irene was taller, if only by a couple of inches. That was also going to take some getting used to.

N-Web sis of stardf, _Rillian_, & jerendaProud to be Sirya the Madcap Siren

"Don't mind at all, whatever suits your fancy is fine by me," Xandria said, shrugging. "I'm just wondering, though--how often are you planning to change yourself up like that? I mean, I can still tell this is you, you still kind of look like yourself. But...I dunno. How late did you stay up practicing?"

"...Not that late." She shook her head and continued, "I don't think I'm going to be doing it all that much. I mean, this time was just a trial run, but.... I guess I'd like to know what my limits are, but that doesn't mean I'm going to go changing up my look every morning. That'd get exhausting."

N-Web sis of stardf, _Rillian_, & jerendaProud to be Sirya the Madcap Siren

"Not too much. I have got to feed all the fish, and do some serious thinking about how to continue supporting them. And, there's the problem of water, too. They need their water cleaned and the oxygen system needs to start working again, or they'll die."

"Well, it is mechanical, and I'm sure that the system was mainly based on electrical stuff, but from what I've been able to find, the aquarium was designed to be self-sustaining, I mean, power wise at least, and it has a secondary system for if the power fails. It's some generator thing, I don't get how it works, and I don't know how it would be fueled, anyway. I'm really not mechanically inclined at all. I pretty much knew how to change the oil in my car and to take it to a mechanic when the brakes went wonky, so I'm not even sure where to start, and considering that people train for quite a while to make and fix stuff like this, I don't think I can figure it out just by getting some books at the library."

Xandria stopped, and sighed.

"I'm actually a bit more concerned about getting the water cleaned than I am about figuring out how I'm going to feed them all. I mean, I'm starting to have to work to breathe underwater, so I don't know what it's doing to them."

Irene really didn't know what to say, or do. Xandria sounded, understandably, distressed, but... she didn't know much more about mechanical things than she did. She shook her head. "And I guess none of the employees who used to work here think it's worth their time to check up on the aquarium--not with the post-Apocalypse we've got going on."

N-Web sis of stardf, _Rillian_, & jerendaProud to be Sirya the Madcap Siren